


Fate Named Us Family

by umaspirateship



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Captain Hook is also a terrible parent, Gaston is a bad dad, Gil tries, I pick and choose what I like from book canon, Mentions of alcoholism, Multi, One Shot, Pre-Movie, Shrimpaaayyy, Ursula is a sucky mom, Young Gil is angsty, Young! Pirate Squad, but it's explained so no need to read the books, excessive use of the name shrimpy, uhhh there's not really any romance they're kids but Gil has a huuuuugeeee crush, uhookme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 01:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umaspirateship/pseuds/umaspirateship
Summary: Gil has always been a lonely kid. One day, seven-year-old Gil decides to run away and forms a devoted attachment to "Shrimpy" and the tall boy who always seems to be at her side. Gil believes their meeting was meant to be, and maybe the two pirates don't believe it, but they believe in each other.A fic about the sea3's first meeting and how it led to all that followed.





	Fate Named Us Family

When Gil was little, he learned that "pirate" was not the correct answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Apparently, the correct answer was "like my father." This made little sense to Gil, who tended to wear his heart on his sleeve, and besides, who asked questions they only wanted one answer to anyway? He tried to tell himself it didn't matter -- he was nothing like his father and he knew it. _If his hair was a little darker,_ his father would say when he'd had too much to drink, _or his smile a little manlier, or his eyes a little more charming, his mother wouldn't have had to leave._ And the twins, with all their dark spiraling locks and sharp chins, and their mother who was still alive, and their joint names, "Gaston Jr." and "Gaston the Third" declaring their worth loud and clear, made it hard for him to believe otherwise.

Still, he did believe in the two pirates he had met when he had run away from home. When asked later, he never could really remember why he had. Had his father been bad? Of course, but the sky was blue, and it was usually worse for him when he returned anyway. His brothers spent most of their time flirting with the girls at school at that point, so it wasn’t as if they were harassing him. Most likely, he’d been hungry again. By the time he was old enough to run, running away had become par for the course, regardless of the reason. But that time, when he was close enough to eight to feel old but still far enough away to be reminded how small he was -- _that_ time, something happened.

There wasn't really anywhere to go when he ran, but that day he’d managed to reach the docks without being caught. Amid the chaos of the pirates’ seedy black market (selling everything from “magicked” fishing supplies to human organs), Gil, who was rather small at the time, found himself pushed and pulled into a little food shop on the pier.

“Who are you?” came a snappish voice from a girl who was already fed up with the way her day was going. Her blue hair made her eyes flash and reminded Gil of a hurricane. And, with a flippant air, she was sitting on top of the restaurant counter in front of a sign that said, in big letters, _Flippers off the Furniture!_ She was _so cool._ “Got any cash?”

“I have two spare buttons and a paperclip,” said Gil in reply, with a sincerity that took the girl aback. “You got a name?”

“If you ask anyone else, I’m not allowed one,” she huffed. “And you can’t buy food without money, or at least something valuable.”

“Who put you in charge? You can’t be any older than me,” said Gil, crossing his arms.

“I’m eight,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder, “How old are you? Six?”

“No! I’m seven and a half. And you may be older but at least I’ve got a name.”

“Care to share?”

“My name’s Gil, but you can’t have it. What do you want me to call you if you don’t have a name?”

The girl rolled her eyes, hopping off the counter. Damn. Even she was taller than him. “I have a name, but no one calls me it.”

“That’s okay. My brothers have names but everyone just calls them Junes and Third -- probably because they have the same name as my dad, but I’ve always thought that was stupid. What’s the point of a name if people don’t call you by it?”

“A name’s about respect, kid,” said a taller boy who had sauntered up next to Gil while he’d been talking. “What you call someone shows what you value about them, that’s why my good friend here is called Shrimpy. See, when we were kids --”

“Oh shut up,” groaned ‘Shrimpy,’ punching the boy in the side. “This kid is never going to respect me if you keep bringing _that_ up.”

“Well, when I’m Captain --”

“Oh, when _you’re_ Captain? That’s rich.”

Gil’s eyes ping-ponged between the two of them and he coughed gently.

“Hmm? Whatcha need small fry?” asked the boy, crossing his arms. Wait. Was that a _hook_ on his hand? Gil tried not to take a visible step back.

“It’s just, you never told me what _your_ name was,” Gil muttered.

“You mean you don’t know who I am?”

“I live on the other side of the Isle,” Gil offered, “and I don’t really go outside much.”

“No kidding,” said the boy. He offered Gil a reassuring pat on the shoulder (with his hand, not his hook, thank the lord). “My name’s Harry Hook, but most people call me crazy.”

“No one calls you that,” said Shrimpy rolling her eyes.

“And it’s never going to catch on if you keep warning off potential victims!”

“Wait -- Harry Hook?” Gil asked, frowning, “Like the Harry Hook who got their own pirate ship for their ninth birthday?”

“Ugh, no,” Harry sighed, “Don’t remind me. That’s my twin sister, Harriet Hook. She’s an asshole and totally doesn’t deserve a ship. She doesn’t even know how to sail! My dad just chose her because she reminds him of himself.”

“But… you have a hook. And you have the same name?”

“Yes, but she was named first and is fed first, and that’s all that really seems to matter.”

“Well, I think it’s fate,” declared Gil putting his arm over Shrimpy’s shoulder only for it to be brusquely shoved off again.

“Fate?” she said, “Who do you think you are, Merida?”

Harry burst out laughing and shook his head when he saw Gil frown.

“Calm down Gil, she didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Well I did,” said Gil, crossing his arms. “Fate. If your father had chosen you instead, do you think you’d be here?”

“Well…”

“And if Shrimpy wasn’t Shrimpy, would she still be Captain?”

“She’s not Captain,” muttered Harry.

“Yet,” said Shrimpy, elbowing him. “I like where you’re going with this, Gil. But tone it down with the ‘Shrimpy.’”

“I think it’s cool,” said Gil. “It’s a sea name, like mine. Gil, like gills, like fish, yeah? And, if I’d been named Gaston I probably wouldn’t have run away in the first place, and I wouldn’t have met you.”

She smiled and scuffed her boot against the floor. Harry looked at them both and sighed pushing his hands into his pockets.

“I guess,” he said, “I like being here with you guys.”

As they stood around, staring at each other for what seemed like hours, but, like a cliche, was mere seconds, unable to breathe, unable to think, a voice rocketed through the store, making the tables rattle.

_“IF YOU AREN’T GOING TO WORK, YOU SPOILED BRAT, THEN STOP TAKING UP SPACE IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. BUT DON’T THINK I’M FEEDING YOU TODAY, FIND YOUR OWN FOOD!”_

“Mothers,” said Harry quietly, with a sigh, looking at Shrimpy, whose face had scrunched up. Gil just looked confused but put a hand on her elbow.

She took a deep breath and stepped back, looking to the ceiling and trying to regain her strength.

“Enough feelings,” declared Shrimpy, “I’m off shift for the first time in months, and I want to do something fun!”

“Blackjack?” Offered Harry, leading the group to a back table, fairly untouched but for the child’s drawings tacked on the wall above it. It was clearly ‘their’ table. “We could bet fish sticks, I’ll buy.”

“You and what money? Mom strung me up last time I gave you free food.”

“Knicked my dad’s wallet this morning,” he said, tossing a twenty on the table, “Might as well spend it all in one place, it’s not like he’ll let me keep it when he finds out.”

“Drunk again?” Shrimpy asked, putting the money into one of the pockets of her apron and stealing a plate of fish sticks from a waiter who was passing by.

“Yeah, wine this time. Thinks it’s classier.” Harry dug around in his vest pockets and paused. “Actually, don’t nag on me but I didn’t bring any cards.”

“What, Harry I swear --”

“I’ve got some,” said Gil, interrupting with a smile, “I’ve got a pack of cards.”

“Full deck?” asked Shrimpy, looking on him skeptically, “I thought you only had two buttons and a paperclip. Looks like you might be a real villain after all.”

“Well, sort of. Didn’t steal ‘em myself. They were a birthday present from Third… said it took him years… I don’t use them.”

“But you’ll let us use them?” asked Harry.

Gil thought for a moment and nodded. “I like you guys.”

“Thanks, Gil,” Shrimpy said, “You’re a good kid.”

“I’ll let you use them,” he continued, “But I’m dealing. And you have to feed me something else too.”

Shrimpy nodded seriously and grabbed the first plate that passed by.

“Omelet work?”

“An omelet is perfect.”

Gil dug into his omelet and began dealing out the cards.

Shrimpy won, of course, but shared her fish sticks with the rest of them as they laughed over Harry’s impersonation of the grizzled old man who sold swords on the corner.

“Gil, Gil, Gil” laughed Harry, “Your turn, pick someone, let us guess!”

“Oh my god Gil, you’re the _worst_ ,” Shrimpy said after he'd given it a rather terrible go, “You need to come around more often.”

His name had turned out pretty okay, as far as those things went. It was nice to be Gil, even if sometimes it was a little fishy.

**Author's Note:**

> i totally just wrote this because no one was sending me asks about my guy gil
> 
> always glad to be back with the pirate crew
> 
> as usual, find me on tumblr (same name as account) or leave a comment below
> 
> ~ abbey  
> owner operator of umaspirateship


End file.
